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Testimony

From Hinduism to Christianity

Religion is man’s attempt to reach a Holy God, but being Born Again is God reaching down to save man by grace through faith and not by works.

This testimony is longer than a normal testimony. If you get upset with me, that is fine because I am just the messenger who believes the entire Bible is absolute truth. My love for you comes from God and I pray that this testimony will touch your heart causing you to surrender your all to the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember we don’t give up anything for Jesus because we have nothing to give up for Him. All we have are sins and we desperately need Jesus Christ to save us.

I was born in the Caribbean Islands on beautiful Trinidad. My mother came from a Hindu Family, whereas my father professed Christianity. I am the fourth of six girls. I went to every type of church there was under the sun but Hinduism was my religion. I was fascinated by the dances, the rituals involving the different pagan gods and the movies. I considered myself very religious and never looked at myself as a bad person since I have never murdered anyone. The word “Sin” was not really a thought in my mind.

I was named after one of the Hindu goddesses Devi or Parvati, wife of Shiva. She is also called by many other names; Ambika meaning mother; Gauri meaning the golden; Shyama meaning dark; Bhairavi meaning awesome; Durga meaning inaccessible and Kali, the dark mother. The name also means Mother, good woman; compassionate and destruction. My dad practiced Hinduism even though he professed that he was a Christian, and on the other hand, though my mother was Hindu she refused to have anything to do with Hinduism. My mother was the one who told me about Jesus and that I should always pray to Him, whereas, my father taught us that all gods are one. We celebrated Diwali, Festival of lights. This is when Lakshmi, the goddess of good fortune is supposed to visit the homes of humans. We also had pooja (prayer meetings) very often in our home. I loved the idea that we had a different god for every need and I was so very caught up with what I could become after I die because reincarnation was real to me. My grandparents were big on the caste system. They would have Bhagwat (a bigger form of pooja) where hundreds of people would come to worship. This would go on for 1- 2 weeks. It was very fascinating; the celebration, the food, the colorful dresses and decorations. Both my Nani and mom always dressed beautifully in their Indian clothes, two most beautiful women I have ever known.

At a very early age I became so obsessed with the East Indian dancing. I took dancing lessons to become a Classical Indian dancer. I performed in the Hindu Temples for all the religious activities and many other events as well which included dance competitions. The Indian movies had a great influence in my life as well. My dream was to go to India, become a classical Indian dancer, and live the Hindu life. My father decided that he was not going to send me there because of the war between Pakistan and India again in 1971.

After graduating from High School, I moved to Canada where I worked as a Hairstylist and also worked at the Bank. I continued to practice Hinduism and did all the rituals like fasting and lighting deyas (clay pot with oil) because I believed that the gods would answer my prayers. I also frequently visited a Hindu Pundit who read my future. He told me the kind of person that I should marry, and how many times I should be fasting a month. I would dream of the pagan gods and believed that was a good thing. Whenever I had a dream of the goddess Kali, I knew something bad was going to happen. All this time I had no idea all this was demonic.

In the Gospel of John, the Apostle wrote in Chapter 1:1-4 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

In the Gospels and the Epistles, it is very clear that Jesus Christ is God. I have talked to many who proclaimed to be Christians and yet they are very involved in the Hindu and Muslim religion. How sad that they are buying into a lie that it is okay to be involved in such religions and seriously believe that they are Born Again Christians. My prayer is that they will truly examine their hearts to see if they are truly in the faith. Matthew 7:21 “ Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “ I never knew you,” depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” (SIN)

It really doesn’t matter what office one holds in a church, how involved one is, how many times a week you are in the church, if you count the money, serve communion or serve on the worship team; what matters is where is your heart? Can people truly tell a difference in your life, are you denying your self, picking up your cross and following Jesus, are you speaking the truth in love and not compromising to be popular? My friends it is not about being popular or not wanting to offend anyone, Jesus was not popular and He sure didn’t have a problem offending the self-righteous religious people. Being involved in any religion that serves another god, that is not Christianity. Many people say they believe in God but not everyone will say that they have committed and surrender their lives to Jesus Christ. He is the ONLY TRUE LIVING GOD, and there is none other like HIM.

The God of the Bible is not Allah, not Ram, not Krishna, not the Jehovah Witness God or the Mormon God, these religions all believe that Jesus is not God, and they don’t believe in the Trinity. I am very sure there are more out there.

My daughter’s father and I were married in a traditional Hindu ceremony in 1979. In 1981 we moved to Georgia but our marriage ended in 1984. My father encouraged me to take Crystal to church so we both attended the First Presbyterian Church but never remembered hearing the gospel being preached. One of my clients told me that she was praying for me and gave me a small blue New Testament Bible. I read it, prayed the prayer at the back of it and never thought of it again. My life got worse; finances were bad, had no idea how we were going to live but God remained faithful in spite of my behavior. My sister Indira was my life- saver in many ways; she really helped me through the bad times and never criticized me but just loved me through it all. She was great then and now even better now because she has become one of the most beautiful women of God I could ever know.

I moved to California and things didn’t turn out the way I had planned. At the bank where I worked, I found out a couple of the women were praying for me. Every time they told me that they were praying for me, I would crack up on the outside but was scared on the inside. A supervisor shared with me the love of Jesus Christ and what His death on the cross meant to her. Even though I knew all that, I ignored it. God also understood that I had a love for Him but I never understood the seriousness of who He is. The Lord used that supervisor to remind me of His great love and also to get my attention because I truly didn’t understand the Holy Spirit was living in me. Even though my world was falling apart, I thought it was all good. I have seen so many people professed Christ but there was no change in their lives so I thought that I was doing okay.

I could not get the Lord out of my mind. The Lord is patient and kind and very gracious. Well, both Crystal and I started going to church again and this time to First Baptist of Modesto. On New Years Eve we went to church and Crystal said “Mom, they are calling you, we need to go down.” I didn’t want to go because a lot of my co-workers went to the same church. Crystal took my hand and away we went down those stairs. A woman asked me if I knew Jesus and I said, “I guess so.” I left that place realizing how I was so disobedient to the Lord. I had counseling with the Singles Pastor who told me how it should be and that woke me up for sure. When I got home, I knew without a doubt that changes needed to be made. I called off a wedding, got baptized and moved to Fremont in a matter of a month. When God moves, we better be ready!

Crystal and I started going to First Baptist Church in Fremont and that is where I met my husband, the love of my life. God had a wonderful plan for me and He changed the course of my life. When I look back at my life, I realized that God had started a work back in Trinidad, but my heart was not yet open to it. What was once a cult religion, no longer had a hold on me. I came to know the real Jesus; I came to understand the difference between religion and relationship. I came to understand that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are three individuals who are not separated but that the Godhead is a triune God.

Jesus Christ won my heart; He took all of my ugliness and turned it into beauty. My life was like ‘the woman at the well’, and like her, God had mercy and compassion for me, I love what the following song says:

Fill my cup Lord; I lift it up, Lord! Come and quench this thirsting of my soul; Bread of heaven, Feed me till I want no more, Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole! (Richard Blanchard) My Lord filled my cup and made me whole. He removed religion from my life and replaced it with a relationship with Him. Jesus opened my eyes to see that Hinduism is a cult. It is a lie that we can combine being a Hindu, Muslim, or any other religion along with being a Born Again Christian. Jesus Christ is God and He is the God of the Bible. He is the LORD, creator of all heaven and earth. Jesus Christ is the only forgiver of sins and He is the only way to heaven. Without the remission of blood and without His forgiveness, no one can enter the Kingdom of God. The Bible says that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life” John 3:16. You see God gave me the gift of faith to believe in Him, He granted me repentance of my sins that resulted in forgiveness from Him and Salvation was given to me. If God didn’t draw me to Himself, then I would have continued to hate Him. “There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God” Romans 3:11. I am a new creature in Him, I no longer hate God or is His enemy. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. In God’s eyes no one is good; none can enter into the Kingdom of heaven without salvation in Jesus Christ. He took my shame and it was nailed to the cross, I am clean, I am white as snow and free to go on living without being ashamed of my past life.

My prayer for each of you is that you will come to know the one true God; there is no other god. If you believe that you are perfect and don’t need God that is a lie from the pit of hell. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?-unless indeed you are disqualified? 2 Corinthians 13:5.

Jesus Christ died for all of our sins, past, present and future, the debt was paid so this gift of Salvation is free to you and me. His death on the cross is not valid until you surrender your life to Him. If your heart is desperate for forgiveness, He is the only forgiver of sin. He is waiting for you to come to Him. It is simple, if your heart is really genuine, first you have to acknowledge that you are a sinner and you need a Savior to save you. Ask Him to forgive your sins and to be Savior and Lord of your life, thank Him for dying for you and ask Him to mold you into a woman/man of God. One thing that I have learned, God is long suffering, patient, loving, merciful and kind. The one prayer that He hears from someone who is not born again is a prayer of repentance. At the foot of the cross where grace and suffering meets? (Kathryn Scott). He is waiting for you to trade your ashes for His beauty, go to Him. He is the only way, the only truth and life (John 14:6).

There are two places one will spend eternity and it is your choice……. eternity in heaven or eternity in hell. My prayer is that you will make the right decision to spend eternity in heaven and that you will find rest and comfort in the Him! Jesus is my all in all and He could be the same for you. There is hope for all but you have to be willing to surrender yourself to the Only One who can save you…Jesus Christ. Come to Jesus with true repentance and faith in your heart, deny yourself and live for Him.

Please feel free to email me if you would like to know more about Jesus Christ and His forgiveness which can set you free.